You're Exactly What She Needs
by Bettakappa
Summary: And she didn't know why she kept pretending. It didn't matter if they were cute, funny, smart, or rich…in the end, they just weren't him. After all, a wise woman did once say that he was exactly what she needed.
1. Chapter 1

You're Exactly What She Needs 

Chapter 1

**And she didn't know why she kept pretending. It didn't matter if they were cute, funny, smart, or rich…in the end, they just weren't him. He was exactly what she needed. **

**This chapter starts directly after Season 2's thanksgiving episode; pretend that Robby and Cece already broke up. Hope you enjoy!**

After Schmidt's cousin and Jess' parents left for Thanksgiving, Winston went over to try to reconcile with Shelby, Nick took a nap, and Jess followed her parents, convinced they were going to get back together. This left Cece on the couch and Schmidt took a seat on the opposite side of the sectional.

She stared at him a bit, not forgetting the close contact they had previously with Schmidt standing behind her protectively like he used to. And if she was being honest with herself, she sort of leaned back a little just to feel more of that connection. Based on the night's events, he was definitely a douchebag, but she could see the genuineness in him because she did know him better than she knew any guy, even her ex, Robby. They dated a lot longer than Schmidt and Cece did, but the memories with Schmidt were far more in number.

"Did you have a good Thanksgiving?" he asked her with the sweetest face.

"Sort of." she replied honestly.

He nodded, "Same here, my cousin just makes me feel like such a loser."

"Trust me, Schmidt; you're ten times the man he is." Cece smiled at him, and Schmidt blushed.

She was expecting him to make an egotistical comment, but the blush was adorable and made her heart melt.

"How do you know?" he asked.

She grinned, "I know you."

"Yeah, the giant douchebag who ran away from the best thing that ever happened to him." he said as he buried his face in his hands.

Cece had to pause a bit, knowing that he was talking about her. She softened her expression and whispered,

"That's not what I see."

His face flicked up, "Okay, Cece, now's not the time to humor me. I know I'm not Robby…"

"Robby and I broke up," she finally revealed.

Instead of turning on 'cool-Schmidt', he gave her a look of genuine care,

"I'm sorry I had no idea." he then looked up at her in all seriousness, "Why?"

"Because he was awful for me. Because he never held me in his arms and slept beside me. Because he didn't care enough to call me every afternoon, just to say hi. Because he never visited any of my shoots and because he never got jealous of my co-workers. Because my grandmother didn't think he was exactly what I needed, because he couldn't play True American, because when I saw him, my heart never sank into my stomach. Because he never sacrificed his own happiness just to let me go. Because he wasn't my best friend. Because I never fell in love with him." she was sure her rant didn't make sense, but she could tell he was getting the gist, describing everything she loved about him. He just needed that last part, and she sucked in her pride and looked Schmidt straight in the eye to hit it home.

"Why?...Because he wasn't you."

Schmidt was dumbstruck, left speechless and he wanted nothing more than to reach over and pull Cece over to him and declare his love back, but the door opened and Jess came through.

"I guess it will never be. My parents just…wait, what's going on here?" she noticed her two friends on the couch.

"Nothing, in fact I better get going." Cece said, a little embarrassed as she bid Jess farewell and shut the loft door.

**Okay last week's episode of New Girl practically ripped my heart out of place. So this is what happens in return. There's more to come if more is wanted, so review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

Once Cece got home, she collapsed her head onto her counter, _"This was a bad idea. He is being the perfect guy again, and I can't let myself fall for him again because it ended in way too much heartbreak."_

Her phone rang,

"Hey, Cece, it's Jess, did Schmidt get to your place yet?"

"Wait, did he _what?_"

"As soon as you left, he practically ran out the door after you and he must have walked because Winston took his car again and he didn't ask me for my keys. Plus, it's like tornadic conditions outside I just wanted to make sure he at least got a cab or something."

Cece didn't even notice that it was now hailing, raining, and lighting with powerful winds, and felt instantly worried.

The doorbell rang and a wave of relief washed over her.

"Jess, he is here safe with me now, gotta go." and with that, Cece put the phone down and went to greet Schmidt at the door. His coat was soaking wet, along with his hair and he was all disheveled.

"The weather has taken a drastic turn since we were out there, my goodness." he cursed.

"Get in here." She practically commanded, opting not to mention their previous conversation, "You need to dry off."

Schmidt grinned a bit at her reasoning, "Aw, you do care about me a little bit." he joked.

She quickly passed the blush off by turning around to get him out of her point of view. Schmidt took off his coat and set it on the rack near the door, he came inside and plopped down on the couch, while Cece was still in the kitchen.

"So where are your lovely roommates?" Schmidt asked, noticing the unusually quiet apartment.

"Giving thanks somewhere else."

"So you got this whole place to yourself?" he said.

Cece joined him on the couch, glad that he hadn't wanted to talk about her confessions at the loft minutes ago, "Yep, but you know it's kind of freaky being here all alone." She then tensed up, "Especially in this lightning storm."

"Lightning freaks you out?" Schmidt said with an interested face.

"Oh." Cece said a bit disappointed that he didn't remember, "I thought for sure that when we were together I would freak out when…"

"Cece, believe me, I know lightning scares you." Schmidt smiled, "If we were sleeping, every time lightning would crack you would grab my shirt tighter and move as close as possible to me."

Cece blushed a bit, "I'm sorry, but it is just plain wrong. Lightning is electricity flying through the air, which is not okay. I'm so surprised you remember all that."

"Of course I remember that, Cece."

And then the lights went out.

Cece immediately freaked out a bit right on cue, especially when the lightning struck along with the darkness, "Schmidt, Schmidt, where are you?" she practically screamed.

His voice was calm, "I'm like two inches away from you."

She felt a hand reaching around, and she knew it was Schmidt, so she grabbed his hand and held on tight, instantly feeling a bit better.

Suddenly their faces were illuminated as Schmidt turned the flashlight app on his phone.

"Hey there." he said.

"Hi." she breathed back, so secretly happy not to be alone.

"Okay, my phone battery isn't going to last long, so do you have candles or something?"

"Um, yeah, there are some candles in my room."

"Okay, we can go set up shop there, I don't want you to be near all of these windows during the storm."

Using the iPhone light, Schmidt walked towards Cece's bedroom, with Cece following close behind with his hand still intertwined in hers for guidance.

Once they got to the familiar room, Schmidt sat on the side of her bed, while Cece moved to another corner of the room to light the candles with help from her phone. He still had his, and was surveying the scene. Schmidt looked at her bedside table. In front of the lamp there were three picture frames. The first one was of Cece and her grandmother. Schmidt smiled at that, knowing just how much she meant to Cece. He still went and saw the woman from time to time, the elder always offered fantastic wisdom and she did, for some reason, take a liking to her granddaughter's ex-boyfriend.

Next in the middle was a fairly recent picture of Cece and Jess, which didn't surprise Schmidt at all. Jess was more than Cece's best friend; they had been life-long companions and confidents. Schmidt then realized how thankful he was for his female roommate. At first, her…quirkiness…seemed to irk the bachelor vibe they all had going on, but within time they found she was part of the family and fit in beyond compare. Also, Jess was the one responsible for introducing him to Cece, the woman who rocked his world off its axis. And even though they weren't together, Cece was one of his closest friends and he would be lying if he said he didn't love her anymore.

And the last picture frame was the closest to the bed and Schmidt almost died when he saw it. It was him. And her. When they were together months ago. It was during the camping trip that the gang had been forced into after Nick threw the car keys across the desert. Schmidt was wearing blue flannel and Cece was bundled up in a jacket and scarf. Even though Schmidt white-fanged her maybe hours after the picture was taken, Cece was snuggled into Schmidt's side, leaned up against a tree. He had an arm wrapped protectively around her. The pair was looking at Jess' camera with adoring and pure smiles on their faces, both clearly happy and infatuated with the other. And it made Schmidt think, he had let her go with the intention that it was making her happy, but from the looks of it, she was already happy where she was.

"Okay, we are all lit….what are you looking at?" She asked, moving to sit next to him, as soon as she saw she said, "Oh."

"Yeah, I mean there's one with your grandmother, one with your best friend, and then one with me."

Cece struggled to find an answer, "I really like that picture of us."

Schmidt couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, so do I, I even remember when it was taken, I just never got to see it."

"Yeah, Jess gave it to me right when we got home that day and I liked it so much, even though we broke up."

"Well I guess I understand, you just needed a photo replacement after you and Robby ended. Nice choice." he smiled innocently.

"There was never a picture of Robby"

"Oh." Schmidt was not expecting that, "What did he say when he just saw us?"

"He was never in here."

"Oh." Schmidt said again, starting to pick up what Cece was hinting at.

"Yeah" Cece nodded, and instead of creating some more awkward silence, she pepped up, "Hey, I have some old picture albums of me and Jess, want to see them?"

"Oh my god, yes!" Schmidt said, moving to lean against the headboard and he patted the space next to her signaling for her to sit next to him.

He saw Cece in the faint candlelight as she retrieved two books, and she hopped on the bed and scooted close to Schmidt.

Her bed was usually giant and cold, but now it was comfortable and cozy, and Cece had to ignore the fact that she was enjoying his company way too much.

He shined a flashlight they found onto the pictures as Cece began to explain each picture of the album.

"And this is us graduating high school."

"Oh…look at Jess' hair!"

"I know, I told her to do something with it, but she wouldn't listen."

"That's my boyfriend, Randy."

"I can just sense the muscles under that gown." Schmidt said.

"Don't worry he was a total tool, I just dated him for status. Not one of the prouder moments in my life…"

Schmidt laughed with her after that comment, "What's with you and R-names: Randy, Robby…"

Cece nudged him playfully, "Well obviously they don't work out."

Lightning struck again, illuminating the room for a second and Cece jumped closer to Schmidt.

"Thank god you're here right now, I don't know what I'd do."

"Hey, it's all I'm good for." he joked.

"See, no it's not." Cece said, setting the book down and facing him. "Robby never spent time with me like this, he never noticed I was afraid of lightning, I mean, I never felt comfortable enough with him to even tell him. I never felt comfortable around him to share my high school pictures with him, I mean…"

This had been the second time Cece had been rambling in circles, so Schmidt tried to just get it out of her, "What are you trying to say, Cece?"

"There's just something about _you_, Schmidt that makes me feel happy, and safe, and comfortable, and slightly annoyed and myself all the time, and I love all of it. And when we were together I had to listen to tons of people say, you know 'what do you see in him?' And I was falling for you, and I was scared, so when you gave me the chance, I got out quick. But you have been the greatest guy, Schmidt, you make my heart actually _feel_ and I love being around you. And I've been trying to avoid my lingering feelings for you but it just doesn't work. I mean, look at us now, it's dark and there's candles and a storm. Randy would be taking advantage of me, Robby would have already left, but you...here we are sitting on my bed looking at embarrassing pictures of me, and I'm having the greatest time."

Schmidt looked understanding and thrilled all at the same time, so she continued, "And when you swallowed your pride and told me you loved me I should have said it right back, I love you, Schmidt and I have for a ridiculously long time."

Schmidt then looked stunned, "You…you love me?"

"I was surprised too." Cece said with that infectious smile of hers, bringing back memories of their first 'official' kiss.

"Oh come here, please." Schmidt begged, and Cece rolled over a bit to finally kiss him.

His lips felt so natural on hers, they knew each other so well and the familiarity hadn't gone away. The sparks were a welcomed feeling, because with Robby there was no electricity, there was virtually no connection.

"I can't believe I missed you so much." she breathed after their glorious kiss ended.

"Well you know what they say, once you go Schmidt you can't quit."

Cece rolled her eyes as she tucked herself in the comfort of his arms, "Like I said, I _cannot_ believe I actually missed you so much."


	3. Chapter 3

"So that's how you and Schmidt got back together." Jess said as she and Cece sat on her bed, getting ready for a wedding they were all attending.

"Yep, and now we've been married three years, I've never been happier." Cece revealed, gripping at her wedding ring.

"I can't even believe it; the two people I expected to never get married have the best marriage." Jess shook her head.

"Now only if you and Mr. Miller could get back on track…"

"Stop it! Stop it!"

"You two have been so back and forth the past four years."

"I know, we know, and that's why we're going as dates to the wedding, giving us an opportunity to rekindle that spark."

"That might be a good idea, but I don't think the lack of spark was the problem." Cece smiled.

"Oh look at you." Jess grumbled.

"What?" Cece laughed.

"You and your 'I'm-married-now-so-I-automatically-give-the-best- relationship-advice' look."

"Jess, that's not what I'm doing, I just want you and Nick to be happy."

"I know." Jess sighed, "And you know how much I love you and Schmidt."

Cece bowed her head, "I do."

All of a sudden the door opened and Schmidt popped his head in, "Jess, Nick's out there, wants to talk to you."

"Oh!" Jess popped up, "Time to make my grand appearance!"

As she left, Schmidt sat down on the bed, "Well don't you look gorgeous." he said of his wife's dark red dress that hugged her body in all the right places.

She scooted closer to him in a dark grey suit, "You don't look so bad yourself."

"Every guy is going to be looking at you tonight; I better keep my guard up."

"Your guard up?" Cece laughed.

Schmidt grinned, "Yeah, you know, protect my lady."

Cece covered her face from laughing, "You're so weird."

He bowed his head with an obvious smile plastered on his face, "Say what you want, you married the weirdo."

"It's true." Cece said as she played with his hands, "I love you."

"I love you too, and it's been a hell of a ride to get there, babe."

"You said it; I mean I for sure thought Nick and Jess would be the ones to settle down first."

"Well those two are in their own romantic world." Schmidt joked, "I say tonight at this wedding open bar, we drink to us, to our three years and many more."

Cece took a deep breath. It was time.

"I don't think I'll be drinking."

Schmidt was slightly confused, "What, why…" and then it dawned on him, "Oh my god, are you…"

Cece nodded her head repeatedly, "Honey, we're going to have a baby."

Schmidt's eyes grew unlike anything she had ever seen. His breathing slowed and he kept mouthing to himself, "We're going to have a baby."

But as soon as she saw that smile, that Schmidt smile appear on his face, she knew he wasn't repeating that phrase out of panic, but out of pure joy.

His smile took over his face and tears began to fall, "We're going to have a baby!"

Cece then began to cry and the couple shared a hug. Schmidt's eyes focused directly on Cece's and it was a moment unlike any other. She had never been more in love with this man than she was right now. She even flashed back to when they had a pregnancy scare in the height of their fling. She was terrified then, of becoming a mother and even more so having Schmidt as the father to her child. But now everything was different. He was her husband, and they had been happily married three years. This was the next step in their life, and she couldn't have been more excited.

"I love you so much." He cried.

"I love you too." Cece replied as they sealed the deal with a kiss, "I found out two days ago and I was looking for the right time to tell you and…"

"Honey, honey, calm down it's okay; I'm just over the moon right now."

"I know you would be I couldn't wait for this reaction."

Schmidt laughed, wiping his tears of joy away, "You know me, always mister emotional."

Jess popped back in the room, and noticed tears were flowing in her room, "Hey, is everything alright in here?"

Schmidt stood up and put his hands awkwardly on Jess' face, "Jessica Day, I am going to be a father."

"You're going to be a…oh my god, Cece! Schmidt! OH MY GOD!"

Nick came in too, "Seriously, bro?"

Schmidt nodded, "Yeah, we're going to have a baby, oh my god I can't stop saying that."

"Congrats, man." Nick nodded, giving his best friend a man hug that lasted a little longer than Nick would have liked it, "Wow, Schmidty, you're going to be a dad, that's just…wow."

"Wow?" Schmidt said as he pulled away from the hug.

"Yeah, I mean who would have thought, right?" Nick nervously laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Schmidt was confused.

"Nothing, you know, um, just that we always talked about how awful we'd be as fathers, and you're the self-proclaimed douchebag. I just didn't know that this is what you wanted."

"That was four years ago, Nick. I've grown up, alright, I got married and the mother of my child? Yeah, she's not some random girl, she's my wife. And it's Cece nonetheless, the woman who I have loved for so long. Things are going right for me and just because they aren't for you doesn't mean you try and bring me down."

And with that, Schmidt walked away, frustrated.

After the wedding Cece and Schmidt sat at a table. Schmidt kept playing with his glass of water, and wasn't saying much.

"Is something wrong?" Cece asked, patting his leg.

He suddenly snapped out of his funk, "What, huh, no! No, there's nothing wrong!"

Cece wasn't fooled, "Schmidt, I know you better than that. What's wrong?"

Schmidt scrunched his face, "It's Nick, he…he just said something earlier about me and, I don't know, it just made me…nervous I guess. What if I'm an awful dad, what if our kid hates me? What if..."

As he trailed off, Cece grabbed his hands, "Honey, I don't know what Nick said, but I'll tell you this. I love you, okay? You have been the greatest husband to me and I know you will be the most amazing father to our baby. I know that."

Schmidt blushed a bit, "Thanks, babe. You're the best."

He leaned into Cece as their lips met for a loving kiss.

Meanwhile Nick watched on as Cece and Schmidt were in an embrace. Jess came up behind him, "What's cooking good looking!" she sang to him.

"Hey, Jess." Nick said, still staring at Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt.

"What are you looking at?" she peaked across his shoulders.

"Nothing." He replied simply, wrapping his arm around her.

"Now what's happening?" Jess was confused.

Nick looked right into her eyes and said, "I know we've been back and forth for forever. But I'm ready to grow up now. I want to do this right with you. Jess, I want to have a future with you."

"Really?" Jess couldn't believe it, "Nick that's so incredible, I'm so happy!" she practically jumped in his arms.

As the two hugged Jess turned her neck to look at him, "But I have to ask you, Mr. Miller, what gave you the change of heart?"

Nick let his eyes peak back over to Cece and Schmidt who were now on the dance floor, swaying back and forth with smiles on their faces. And it could have been just Nick's imagination acting up, but he could have sworn that a ray of light from somewhere struck down on Schmidt's wedding band that made it shine.

Nick dreamed of the day when he had a wedding band of his own, when he could dance with the woman who meant everything to him. And yeah, he was jealous of Schmidt earlier, but now he knew he had the girl of his dreams right here in Jessica Day and he was going to do anything to keep it that way, all thanks to his good friends Schmidt and Cece.

**A/N: Well, it's been a few weeks since the season 2 finale of New Girl and what a finale it was. The love triangle between Cece/Schmidt/Elizabeth looks to be good next season but come on, Schmece all the way! **

**Anyway, this is probably the end of this little story, but I have a few more ideas for this up my sleeve if there's interest. Hope you liked it, with some more inclusion of Nick and Jess!**


End file.
